Hakurakuten (Bo Juyi)

Catalog note / 解説

The Japanese love of poems and their poets extended to the poets of China. Such admiration led the Japanese to deify both Chinese and Japanese poets and to think of them in one another's company in the world of imagination. Some Noh plays deal with such fantasy events. In this print, based on the Noh play Hakurakuten, Hokusai presents a scene of a poetry competition between a Chinese poet Sumiyoshi, disguised as a fisherman. The two gods speak to each other in a poetic dialogue. Bo Juyi spoke first: Green moss covers, like a cloth, the sides of rocks. White cloud, like a sash, wraps the flanks of mountains. Sumiyoshi instantly replied: Rocks clad in green moss wear no sash of cloud The moun…